The son came home from college and loaded up a link to photo bucket in the form of a slide show in the previous post ,well it's not ideal but it's progress ya know what kids are like always in a hurry.Anyway that's the bike bit of a mess but I have a vision.

When I was a young lad, around 10' ish, we had guests over for Thanksgiving dinner. My dad's college friend and his wife. My dad's friend was a well known Thoracic surgeon named Glen. My dad said, "Pat, why don't you do the honors and carve the turkey, show Glen your technique..."So with meticulously sharpened set of carving knives, I proceeded to carefully slice up the bird. My mom said, "Glen, look at Pat, look at his cuts, wouldn't he make a fine surgeon?"Glen replied, "Mary, do you have any sewing thread?Mom said, "Sure why do you ask?"Glen explained, "To answer your question, I want to see how he puts the bird back together."

My point: Disassembly is easy. The true test is to see how you put it back together. Did you take pictures? Baggie and label all your bolts?

i know the look of that shed. I wish I had been a meticulous as Pat with labeling and bagging thing. my one saving grace was that i had another FJ to use as a road map for reassembly. But persevere. It is totally worth it.

That's the best way to get to know your new machine, is to do what you're doing.Examine everything.

We all had a good laugh. Didn't even consider reassembling the bird. (meat was cooked tender, sutures would not hold)My dad said something like, "Well, at least there is always the Medical Examiner's office....."

Consider the 17" rim conversion, seriously. Those 16's oem rims are narrow and pig heavy. Don't waste your time and effort on those rims.Consider the '89+ FJ fork lowers. You can then use the superior R-1 monoblock blue spots like the picture shows and the 17" front rim.

You will be much happier with modern 17" rubber on your bike...and better brakes

Well Pat I've been seriously considering all the usual modifications you guys are doing but I'm going to go stock for now . Reason been polishing here is cheap and other than a set of tires that I can get here for reasonable money most of the other stuff is serviceable , which means I can get the bike back on the road where it should be and tackle the mods at a more leisurely pace while still enjoying the bike and do it right ,while pushing the budget out a couple more years.You have to keep in mind Pat that here in Ireland were coming out of a pretty serious recession and I work in construction that took a pretty bad hammering.

i know the look of that shed. I wish I had been a meticulous as Pat with labeling and bagging thing. my one saving grace was that i had another FJ to use as a road map for reassembly. But persevere. It is totally worth it.

From This - This was half way through tear down.

To This - And so much fun in between.

Only an Fj owner would appreciate what has gone into that end result.. Bike looks greatThat's a nice part of the country your in, spent a few years in Mt Newman WA as a child all I remember is red dust.